Ash: Baptism by Fire
by Dyrnwyn1994
Summary: My take on Ash getting a different starter. Ash is on time, but still doesn't get the Charmander he wanted, instead he managed to get teamed up with Ponyta. Note: Mix between anime and the games. Ash will be smarter and Team Rocket will appear as an actual criminal organization.


**Author's Note: Alright, this is my first story so I don't expect much, but those of you who decided to actually read my story a couple of things: this Pokémon fanfiction will be a bit dark but nowhere close to Sun Soul, the Three Stooges will NOT be a part of this story, I'm sorry to those who actually like them, but I plan to have Team Rocket actually appear to be what it's supposed to be, a massive criminal organization that will have members not opposed to killing people whether it be child or adult or Pokémon to get what they want.**

**Ash is thirteen in this story, am I the only one who thinks sending a ten year old off into the wilderness is just plain stupid?**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Pokémon, and sadly I'm not making any money off this.**

_Tomorrow is the day_, thought Ash. Tomorrow was the day that he was going to receive his first Pokemon and start his Pokemon journey. And there was no way he was going to be late. He made sure to set his alarm a good half an hour early just to be safe. But he couldn't sleep, his mind kept wandering to the Pokemon he was going to get the next day; in an attempt to fall asleep Ash had started to run through the pros and cons of the three Pokemon that Prof. Oak would hand out for the rookie trainers again in his head for the thousandth time it seemed.

Bulbasaur, a grass/poison type Pokemon that was perfect for a rookie trainer. Bulbasaur was a docile and an easy going Pokemon and quite easy to raise. Ash had considered getting Bulbasaur for quite some time, not only was it easy to raise but also because Bulbasaur had a type advantage over the first two Gyms. The last reason, though a bit petty, was that Ash had overheard Gary boasting, not something new of course, that he would be getting Squirtle and that would give Ash the type advantage; and Ash really wanted to knock Gary down a peg or three.

Next was Squirtle, a water type Pokemon. Squirtle could be a bit of a challenge to raise, normally Squirtle was an even tempered Pokemon that had excessive amount of energy; the trick to successfully raise a Squirtle was guiding that energy toward training whilst keeping them interested in training (AN: kinda like trying to get an ADHD kid to pay attention in class). Of course the real challenge started when Squirtle evolved into Wartortle and began to get aggressive. Then there was the fact that Squirtle had a type advantage over the first Gym. And since Gary wanted Squirtle Ash had entertained the thought of getting Squirtle just to spite Gary, but quickly threw that idea out. It was immature and a terrible foundation of the friendship he wanted to build with his Pokemon.

Last was Charmander, a fire type Pokemon. Charmander was by far the most difficult starter Pokemon to train due to having a bit of a violet streak and a tendency of not listening to its trainer if it thought the trainer was too weak in its opinion, and Charmander's personality only got worse as it would evolve; it's pride just wouldn't allow it to listen to an incompetent trainer, nor would it tolerate an abusive trainer. Needless to say there was a fine line that a trainer had to walk on to successfully raise a Charmander. Not only that but it had a type disadvantage for the first two Gyms though the first Gym could be overcome if Charmander was fast enough and knew Metal Claw.

Ash had done his homework, and why shouldn't he? The choice he would make tomorrow would affect him for the rest of his life . The Pokemon he would choose would most likely be his closest companion for as long as either of them would live. He had thought long and hard for days about which Pokemon he was going to choose, and he'd only just came to a decision last week that he'd choose Charmander. Yes, while Charmander did have a few setbacks in the beginning he definitely made up for it down the road with his shear amount of power. And although Charmander would be the more difficult Pokemon to train Ash thought that he could pull it off and gain a precious friend in the process.

But first Ash had to sleep, easier said than done. "Where's a Jigglypuff when you need one", Ash moaned. It took time, but Ash finally managed to fall into a deep sleep; dreaming of beating Gary and then becoming a Pokemon Master, a huge grin was plastered on his face the entire night.

The next morning Ash had been awakened to a God awful sound that was his alarm clock. Now usually Ash would just hit the snooze button and get another fifteen minutes of blissful rest, but today wasn't like any other day, today was the day he'd get his Pokemon. He immediately jumped out of bed and quickly dressed as fast as his still half asleep fingers could move, first pulling up black cargo pants, then he started to put on a white short sleeved shirt immediately followed by a black vest with maroon red trimming that had two wings overlapping each other on the left side of the chest, one a maroon red the other white, there was an enlarged version on his back as well. And to top it off, a white and maroon red hat with an acute angle on the front.

Ash ran out of the room whilst grabbing his pack, and made his way to the stairs taking them two at a time, jumping the last four. And started running towards the door, only to have a firm hand grab his pack pulling him away.

"And where do you think you're going young man". Delia questioned, with that knowing, humored, look only a mother could give. Of course she knew where Ash was going she was a mother after all and moms know everything.

"Ah mom, come on", Ash moaned, "Today's the day I start my journey, you know that." To which Delia just smirked, and began pulling Ash towards the kitchen.

"And what will you do for the next twenty minutes when you get to Prof. Oak's lab? Better for you to eat one last good breakfast before you go," Delia explained, "Heaven knows you won't get another for quite a while."

"Alright mom, you win." Ash said in complete defeat. Ash loved his mom, really he did, but he had been hoping to avoid her so that he wouldn't have to go through her last minute fussing that she'd take to a whole new level, and started to dig into his breakfast daydreaming of the Pokemon he'd get in a few short minutes.

"…and are you sure you have enough underwear packed honey?" Delia teased. Ash hadn't even realized that he'd been zoning his mom out until that particular comment and couldn't help blushing in embarrassment.

"MOM! S-seriously?" Ash stuttered out, nearly choking on his third round of pancakes whilst trying to object to his mom for even saying that, even as a joke.

Delia gave her son a concerned look as he started a coughing fit, though concern changed to laughter as her son objected to her joking about his underwear. "Oh dear," Delia said glancing at her watch, "Ash, honey, you need to get going otherwise you're going to be late, and don't forget to call me after you get to Viridian City." There was a clatter of a fork hitting the plate as Ash began to run out the door before Delia even finished with a quick "Bye Mom and will do" from Ash.

Ash was out the door and started running through the streets, running as if his life depended on it. Soon enough Ash came to a large white building with three other kids Ash's age milling about in front of the doors.

Ash slowed down to a walk and approached his fellow peers to say hi, though before he could a familiar voice, that Ash wished he wasn't familiar with, called out to him.

"Hey check it out the loser finally showed up," Gary arrogantly said, and started to walk toward Ash from where he had been leaning against the wall, "Though when I get my Squirtle and humiliate you, you're gonna wish ya hadn't showed up at all."

Ash had tightened his fists to the point where it began to hurt; he wasn't going to rise to Gary's taunt, but that didn't stop a paint peeling glare he sent Gary's way. The other two kids though were a whole different story – the boy, Andy, was rather quiet with a sophisticated air about him looked down at the ground not wanting to get involved ; the girl, Maria, was quite pretty with dark fiery red hair and an attitude to match it decided to deflate Gary's ego.

"Gary why don't you shut it," Maria said, steel lining every word she spoke, as she approached the arrogant prick, "And if I recall Ash scored higher than you on the Trainer's Examination; so what does that make you? They have a word for it," Maria's voice was dripping with sarcasm at this point, "Oh right now I remember, you say it quite a bit actually, loser; that's right a loser."

Gary's only response was a growl and began walking back to the wall he'd been leaning against. While he wanted nothing more than to put Maria in her place he knew that he really couldn't; as much as he hated to admit it if he tried she'd make sure that he wouldn't be able to start his journey for a good few days, maybe a week; Maria had a killer right hook.

An uneasy atmosphere had settled around them all, well everyone except Maria. And it stayed there as Ash hesitantly made his way over to Maria.

"Hey Maria," getting her attention Ash went on, "I wanted to thank you for what you did, you didn't have to, but you did; so thank you." Ash ended lamely.

Maria had a thoughtful expression on her face before answering, "I didn't do it for you, you know. I did it because you're not the only one who can't stand Gary's mega ego; I hate people like him. Anyway, how would you like to travel with me and Andy?" Maria questioned with a hopeful expression on her face.

"Alright, but wait, no I can't," Ash seeing her face warp into an angry scowl with a hint of sadness in her eyes quickly began to explain, "It's just that the first couple of days are critical in bonding with your Pokemon; I want to travel with you, really I do, but I want to be alone with my Pokemon so that a bond between me and my Pokemon can form that much quicker."

"Well… um, that makes sense," Maria replied when suddenly an idea hit her, "Hey, if you really want to travel with us then how about we hook up in Viridian City?"

Ash immediately perked up with a smile, "Ya, that's cool, meet up at the Pokemon Center?"

"Alright, the Pokemon Center sounds good see ya there in a couple of days I guess." Maria answered.

Prof. Oak opened the doors at that moment with a cheery smile and waved them inside, though the tension in the atmosphere didn't go unnoticed by Oak, who only shrugged it off as one of Gary's and Ash's many disputes.

They all began to file into the lab and followed Prof. Oak into a smaller room with a table where three pokeballs resided; no one seemed to notice there was only three pokeballs until Ash pointed it out to Prof. Oak.

"Oh! Yes, terribly sorry about that," Oak looked quite embarrassed about the whole situation, seeing the worried expressions on the soon-to-be trainers he quickly reassured them, "Not to worry though all of you will be getting a Pokemon today. One of you will just have to wait a little longer than necessary for me to set you up. Now then who would be willing to wait a little longer to get their Pokemon?"

The underlying message wasn't missed by any of them: one of them wouldn't be getting the standard issued starter Pokemon that was usually handed out. They all started looking at each other, none of them wanted to volunteer and not get the starter that they really wanted.

Ash swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly stepped forward, "I'd be willing to wait Prof. Oak."

"Good, very sporting of you Ash." Prof. Oak praised, "Now the rest of you come forward and choose you're Pokemon. The pokeball on the left contains Bulbasaur, a grass type pokemon. The pokeball in the middle contains Charmander, a fire type pokemon. And finally the pokeball on the right is Squirtle, a water type pokemon. Now be sure to choose wisely each of these pokemon have strength and weaknesses, but a skilled trainer can use all of them to best of their abilities."

Gary hadn't even bothered to wait for his grandfather to finish as he walked up and snagged Squirtle's pokeball and released the small blue turtle. He must have seen something he liked because a smirk found its way onto his face.

Maria was next, confidently she walked up and picked up Charmander's pokeball, releasing the small orange lizard. Charmander, as soon as he saw who his trainer was supposed to be, immediately made a beeline toward Maria, and began to hug her leg with hearts in his eyes.

That left Andy with Bulbasaur, who upon being released just gave his trainer a curious look over before settling down and closed his eyes. Andy only gave a slight frown at his new pokemon's behavior, and was probably thinking of a way to snap Bulbasaur out of his lazy nature.

Clearing his throat Prof. Oak stepped forward, "As much as I know how badly you all want to continue to familiarize yourself with your new pokemon I'm going to have to ask you all to recall them for the time being.

Gary began to mutter something beneath his breath, but did as he was told; the other two followed suite and recalled their pokemon without a word of complaint, though Maria may have already been planning on doing that before Prof. Oak even asked.

"Here behind me," Oak gave a quick gesture to the small table behind him on top of which were four small computers, "Is a device called a pokedex, I've got one for each of you. Once you input your information into it, it will serve as your identity." Oak began to explain, and slipped into a lecture kind of tone, "Not only that, but it can also tell you practically anything about a pokemon that you caught; what type it is, what it likes to eat, it's move set, as well as a summary of the pokemon's nature."

Ash's mind was officially overwhelmed, to think the small red device in his hands could do all that, Prof. Oak truly was a genius.

"Um… Prof. Oak." Andy spoke up.

"Yes, what is it Andy." Oak had Andy pegged as the strong silent type that only spoke when absolutely necessary, so knowing that Oak immediately gave Andy his full and undivided attention.

"How come there are four pokedexes, but there were only three pokemon?"

Well, that simple, but rather important detail threw Oak for a loop. "Well," began Oak whilst rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Good help is hard to find nowadays?" Oak ended with a rather nervous chuckle, and thanking God that none of his aides were in the room with him.

"Moving on, in that that bag are twenty pokeballs, you are all to take five," Oak nodded when he saw everyone take their pokeballs, "Now that you're all set I won't keep you from starting your journey. Except you Ash; I still need to find you a good pokemon to start you with."

Once everyone cleared the room Oak turned to Ash, "Don't worry Ash I won't give you a pokemon you think won't work out." Seeing the worried look leave Ash's eyes, Oak continued, "So Ash which pokemon did you have your eye on?"

"Well I was kinda hoping to get Charmander." Ash replied quietly.

"I see, so would you rather have a fire type as your starter," Oak clarified, trying to find the best match up for Ash, "Or did that only apply to Charmander and you'd rather start with a different type?"

Ash thought long and hard about his answer before giving it, "Yes, I'd like a fire type as my starter."

Oak was bit baffled by Ash's answer, he'd be massively handicapped during the first two Gyms. Oak voiced his concern, "Ash you do realize that you'll be at a severe disadvantage for the first two Gyms right?"

Ash set his face into a determined look and gave his reply, "Yes, I know, but I know that with the right kind of training and strategy I'll be able to do it."

Oak gave Ash a hard and long stare trying to find anything that contradicted what Ash had just said, finding none Oak smiled before telling Ash he'd go get his pokemon then and that he'd be back in a few minutes.

As Oak left the room and began the walk toward his destination, he couldn't help but wonder which fire type would suite Ash best, and mentally began to go through the list before stopping, a smile etched on his face, _'Yes, that pokemon will do nicely'_, thought Oak, and immediately set forth once again_, 'I've been done analyzing and studying him for a while, now and he's such a spirited being, keeping him here will slowly kill him._

Oak walked into a larger room through a sliding door and walked up to a specific pokeball, grabbing it he began the journey back to Ash.

Once again Oak walked into the small room where Ash anxiously waited, "No need to be so nervous Ash, I've got your new companion right here," Oak reassured, holding up the pokeball, and then handing it to Ash.

Ash immediately tapped the middle button twice to release his pokemon, a beam of red light shot from the ball and a small horse came into being. "It's Ponyta! Right?" Ash questioned a bit perplexed, after all wasn't a Ponyta's flames supposed to be red-orange? This one seemed to have blue-white flames instead.

The Ponyta in question had started to give Ash a look over before finally snorting and began to walk up to Ash where Ponyta bumped his head against Ash's chest.

"Ah! Splendid, it seems Ponyta has taken a liking to you Ash," Oak congratulated, and then answered Ash's question, "Yes, it's true that this Ponyta does seem a bit different than the rest of his kind. You see Ash there are pokemon out there that can have a different color than the rest of its kind; they're only a recent discovery actually, and incredibly rare; at the moment we've labeled them as shiny pokemon."

"Prof.! If they're so rare, why are you giving one to me?!" Ash couldn't believe that the pokemon he was currently patting was that rare and that Prof. Oak was entrusting Ponyta to him. "Don't you need him for study?"

"To answer your questions Ash, it's that I'm done studying Ponyta and that he has such a free spirit, keeping him here would slowly kill him, and as to why I'm entrusting him to you," Oak thought for a moment before finishing with a faraway look in his eyes, as if he staring into Ash's very soul, "I suppose there's just something about you that makes you special."

Ash could only blink stupidly, Prof. Oak one the greatest, and an acknowledged genius, thought that he, Ash, was special. "What do you mean by special Prof.?" Ash tried to clarify.

Prof. Oak just laughed, "That's an answer you're going to have to figure out for yourself Ash," seeing Ash's face twist into a look of confusion, a bit of annoyance, Oak tried to put it differently, "What I mean is: what's the point of even trying to discover the unknown if it hands you all the answers, it just wouldn't be any fun; I mean look at myself: I study pokemon, creatures that we live alongside every day, and we don't still don't know everything about them, if we did I'd be out of a job." Oak ended with a chuckle.

Ash was still a little bit confused, but what Prof. Oak said did kind of make sense, in a way.

Clearing his throat Oak explained one last thing before Ash could start his journey. "Ash you need to be careful on who sees Ponyta; there are Pokemon thieves that would _**kill**_ you in order to get that Ponyta, namely an organization called Team Rocket, they can usually be identified by the red R that's on their uniform. You see that uniform and you're to run like Hades himself is after you, you hear? Don't release Ponyta in populated area unless absolutely necessary, battling with him is fine, just be smart about it." Oak finished very seriously.

Ash nodded his acknowledgement, "Yes, Prof. Oak I understand."

"Good lad, now off with ya, I won't keep you from your journey any longer." Oak said with a smile as he led the way outside.

Ash quickly recalled Ponyta and clipped his pokeball onto his belt, and began to make his way out of the lab.

Ash grinned as he set out on his journey, taking his first steps as a new trainer.

**AN: Okay, what did you all think? Please review, and give me some constructive criticism; flamers will be ignored. Expect the next chapter to be out within two weeks tops and to be longer as well.**


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